Sherry’s

exchange student life

Sherry Lee

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Sherry’s exchanging student life…

2

An Amazing Year!

Sherry was sixteen, a young and happy

girl who loves traveling very much. Therefore,

on 15 February, 2004, her parents secretly

assigned a program for her—a chance to be an

exchange student for a whole year. She only

knew the program would offer her a chance to

visit Europe…

To Sherry

A girl who wants to explore the world

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And who is still exploring it

May this book give you the idea

Of challenging yourself like she did

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Contents

Chapter 1 Packing up……………….6

Chapter 2. Everything is NEW……13

Chapter 3. Hard times……………..22

Chapter 4. Special memories…….30

Chapter 5. Ready to go home……36

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Chapter 1 Packing up

Making decisions

Sherry was sixteen, a young and happy girl

who loves traveling very much. Therefore, on 15

February, 2004, her parents secretly assigned a

program for her—a chance to be an exchange

student for a whole year. She only knew the

program would offer her a chance to visit Europe.

She was so excited about this arrangement and

prepared really hard for the interview.

“Fortunately”, she passed the interview and got

the chance to visit Denmark, a lovely country in

the northern Europe, the origin of LEGO and the

fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen. She felt

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all was so wonderful and perfect, until her dad

finally told her the truth…

“Going for a year as an exchange student?

This is a joke, right? What am I going to do in

this COLD country for a year? I can not speak

their language, so what can I learn there? The

school system is different, and I have to live with

a family which I don’t know at all?” shouted

Sherry to her parents. But hold on a moment! An

exchange student! What an amazing chance!

“You could learn so many new things and

experiences from that! Why don’t you give it a

try?” most of the people asked. “Well,” she

always answered, “I am doing well in my school

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and making friends now, why should I go to a

new place to meet challenges? I could not see the

point! And I could not stay with my class when I

am back, so I will have to start all over again! I

can see what I am going to loose, but can’t see

what I would get!”

Since this decision was made by Sherry’s

parents, she could not fight back due to her

reasons were too childish and unreasonable. Her

parents only thought this was a very good chance.

Also, in their opinion, youngsters are supposed to

have an exciting life. That was why no matter

how hard she tried to persuade her parents; she

still had to start packing.

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The day before her leaving, her class

arranged a secret farewell party for her and gave

her a meaningful memoir. She hugged her friends

and was hard to believe she is going to leave this

place, because she did not want to believe this

was true.

Taking off

She could not remember why she let that

cold machine took her away from her homeland.

She knew she wasn’t well-prepared yet, and she

was not even sure what she was doing. After

feeling confused for a couple hours, she said

hello unwillingly to the brand new place where

she would stay for the next year—Denmark.

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The landscapes of Denmark were like the

pictures on the postcard. A wide-open field with

yellow wheat all over her sight; the warm and mild

sunshine shone over her face saying hello to her. The

co-worker from the organization told her that she

had to take a train by herself to the camp. “Great! I

don’t even know how to take the train in Taiwan!

This is hard…I have to do everything by my own

now!!” said Sherry while carrying her clumsy sacks

sadly onto the train. Watching the views on the train,

she thought about how this year is going to be. What

kind of troubles would she meet? How can she solve

them? All are so unpredictable! Thousands of

thoughts were tangled up, and then she felt asleep.

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She arrived to the destination safely and a ticket

inspector came to kindly wake her up in Danish. She

would never forget him for he was the first person

who spoke this cute language to her.

The exchange students of the camp came from

all over the world. However, there were only three

Asians except her. Others were mostly from Latin

America. Therefore, she had to use English all the

time, and kept smiling at people who she could not

communicate with. They spent ten days adjusting

their appetites to the Danish one, “enjoying” the

cold, windy weather, and learning some basic

Danish. Eventually, they got to know each other

better and had more ideas about this country.

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Chapter 2. Everything was NEW

Her host family

Sherry’s first encounter with her host

family was nervous and exciting. She tried hard

to talk in her poor Danish while wiping her

sweaty hands on the pants. Although they’ve

seen each other’s picture and wrote e-mails

before, they still felt unfamiliar with each other.

Gradually, they began to understand each

other better. Sherry’s host father was Jakob. A

very traditional Danish name. He loved fishing,

making annoying jokes, and drinking beer. His

favorite quote was, “Keep smiling” which

inspired Sherry when she was depressed. The

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best of all was he was the funniest and the most

responsible person who Sherry has ever met. Her

host mother, Lone, was a very patient woman

who liked painting, cooking, and teaching the

naughtiest children to behave. She was the

person who Sherry felt very comfortable to stay

with. And last, her host sister, Signe, a girl who

was very creative, and liked to eat a lot of

candies. She had the most enthusiastic laughter

which Sherry could never forget.

She knew their language, habits, and

preferences might not be the same, but she

believed that living with them would be an

unforgettable experience.

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Lone, Signe and Sherry in the camp

New school

Sherry’s Danish school has been accepted

exchange students for fifty years. One of the

rules for the exchange students was that they

must give a three-minute Danish

self-introduction in front of all their schoolmates.

She was totally frightened since she was even

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afraid to do that in Chinese! However, a rule is a

rule, so she had to get on the stage. She prepared

and practiced it for three days in front of her host

family. When the big day came, it turned out to

be quite amazing. It was surprising that they

loved her Danish tongue twister in the end!

Her classmates all seemed nice to her, and

they all spoke perfect English. However, they did

not talk to her much, and she was quite

disappointed by feeling isolated. Her host family

told her that Danish people are very shy in a way,

so they do not usually talk to people who they

first meet. And also, Sherry was only a one-year

exchange student, so they would not really spend

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time making friends with her. She was sad to

hear about all this, but she knew no one in the

school. She needed friends to help her adjust to

the environment and get over her homesickness!

Fortunately, there was not only her who

was an exchange student there, but also eight

more from the other countries. One of the biggest

benefits for her to be an exchange student is that

she got to know many people from other

countries. They shared traditional snacks and

different opinions together, which broaden

Sherry’s international views. They spent all their

special moments together, no matter sad or happy.

She was really glad to know them in this year!

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Sherry and her exchange friends from the camp

Danish orchestra

This was her favorite social place where

people could easily understand each other just by

playing music. They played all kinds of songs

and had concert at many places. By performing

with them, she got the chance to know more

Danish folksongs, traditional stories, and took a

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place in all kinds of celebrating feasts!

The most exciting and special performance

they did together was in Italy. In Italy, they could

do whatever they liked as long as they wish.

Everyday after the performance, the orchestra

would go to the beach and enjoy the nature.

Everyone was enjoying the sunshine except her,

and she was so afraid to get suntan and she

stayed in the shadows all the time! They just

thought she was a “different” girl with another

cultures background, but could still naturally

drink beer and sing their national anthem with

them. She thought it was just the easiest way to

join them at last!

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The Danish orchestra in Italy

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Chapter 3. Hard times

Conflicts with the host family

After living with the host family for six

months, she thought that they would be very

close. However, she felt like they still wanted to

keep the distance with her could not see her as a

part of the family. She could not understand why

they were acting like that. Little did she know

that people from the northern Europe are more

serious about making a close friend? Therefore

when she was intending to “be” their daughter,

they made her know that this was impossible,

which upset her a lot.

One day Sherry secretly told Signe about her

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feelings. She thought Signe would keep this

secret, but she just told her host parents right

away. This thought her a lesson, which was

Danish speak the problems more bluntly than

Chinese people. They thought they could solve

the problem together easier by this way. Without

informing her that they have already known the

information, they popped out the question at the

dinner table. Lone asked her if she did not want

to live with them anymore. She did not have the

courage to explain and ran into her room to cry.

She was so afraid that her host family did not

want her anymore. So she wrote a letter instead

and put it in the mail box before going to school

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the next day. She was so nervous to predict what

would happen the whole day. When she finally

went home, Lone still refused to talk with her

and made Sherry really disappointed. Jakob came

to ask her why she did not say it directly, and told

her the letter has been burned.

After a week, the situation has not changed.

Although she was hurt, she decided to face this

trouble. On a Sunday afternoon, she sat down

again and talked about why she said those words

to Signe. It surprised Lone and Jakob very much.

They wanted Sherry to be happy, but it was

impossible to treat her like their own daughters.

She found out how childish she was and

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promised she would not be so ridiculous again.

Unbelievably, they forgave her immediately.

Actually, they’ve become closer after that.

Signe, Sherry, and their cousins

Different cultures—drunken parties

Sherry’s school said that they were going

to have a big cowboy party. She was so excited

to know this and went to borrow all the

costumes—a big straw hat, leather jacket, shiny

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belt, pistol…etc. She even asked Signe to set

her hair. It was just like preparing for her first

date!

Sherry went school at 9 o’clock. Before

she opened the school’s front gate, she

imagined that people would be sitting around

the table and having chips, candies, or watching

a movie together like a cozy little family.

However, she was totally wrong. When she

opened the gate, the music was so loud that she

could barely hear anything. She saw all the

people dancing crazily, splashing their beer on

the ground and their body. They were all

shouting her name and came to hug and kiss her.

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She was so frightened since they were so wet

and smelt horrible. This poor little girl felt so

disgusted and dizzy, and didn’t know what to

do at all but ran away. They couldn’t

understand and thought she was just shy!!

However, that was not shocking enough, the

next day was worse. Those people who came to

hug or kiss her the day before just seemed as if

they had never known her. They even ignored

her when she greeted them. She was confused

and didn’t know how to react. “This is

ridiculous, what’s happening in the world??”

she thought.

Anyway, that was just the beginning. After

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many times’ partying, she found out it was

normal for them to have this behavior. Danish

people are usually too shy to talk to strangers

unless they become drunk because it is more

relaxed. She tried to accept their culture but she

still kept her own style. This is not easy but it is

important. It is not about right or wrong, their

unique lifestyle is just different.

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Chapter 4. Special memories

Special occasions—Christmas

Christmas in Denmark does not start

celebrating on the 24th December but the 1st. The

presents and the atmosphere were awesome—the

Christmas calendar, Christmas candle, going to

chapel. She visited all her Danish relatives and

ate until she gained two kilos! The Danish

Christmas was very traditional. The trees were

decorated by candles, the food were made by the

most natural ingredients like the old days. They

passed all the days slowly and enjoyably, and it is

an important timing for family members to get

together. People gathered around the fireplace

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and watch Christmas special shows, wrapping off

gifts and appreciates each other with a sweet hug,

which made Sherry begin to miss her own family.

Sherry’s birthday

Sherry never thought someone would

remember her special day. She woke up at 6:30,

took the bus in the snowy weather which looked

like the whole world was covered by sugar, and

walked with her heavy clothes to the school.

When she was still day dreaming on her way,

her friends suddenly covered her sight with a

cloth and took her to the classroom. When they

took the cloth off, she saw a cake with seventeen

candles, a friend played guitar and her classmates

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sang happy birthday songs to her, she burst into

tears. That was her best birthday ever!

Pram

School’s graduation party has always been

the most pompous event. Sherry and her friends

spent five hours for dressing-up. They had their

hair premed, put on the most graceful dress and

as much make-up as they could. They were so

excited because they have never joined a pram!

They were so amazed to see the limousines,

the barouches, and elegant dresses. We could not

imagine how much money and time they had

spent on all these costumes! This party was very

special for it would be the last time for them to

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get together and get drunk! Sherry could not

really understand their feeling but thought it was

fun anyway!

The Danish prince got married

There was one day which all the women in

Denmark would cry—the wedding of their gentle

Danish prince.

Sherry loved the royal family, so she was

there at Copenhagen waving the Australian and

Danish flag. She was amazed by the palace, the

adventurous wedding in which Hans Christians

Andersen’s fairy tale described.

She walked along the street the whole day

just to get the glance of the beautiful royal bride

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although she was freezing. They cared so much

about the royal family because it was their dream

to be in the royal family. She has never seen

these before—the passion of the people, flags

waving everywhere and rejoicing. She was very

proud with no special reasons to participate this

historical event.

Jakob sitting on the ice

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Chapter 5. Ready to go home

Time flies. Sherry was surprised a year went

so fast. She felt sick to pack up just like when she

had to leave Taiwan. She has always hated to

leave a place after falling in love with it.

Although she has always known she would go

back to Taiwan, she became angry to her parents

again since she had no idea when she could come

back there. The days passed by so quickly, and

she wanted to destroy all the calendars in the

world and forget the date. Her dad planned to

visit her before her return, but instead of feeling

excited, she was afraid.

Her sweet Signe wrote her a letter which

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mentioned about all the things they have done

together. She couldn’t control her tears since

there were so many things to cherish, so many

things to remember in this year.

Visiting from Daddy

After a week, her dad arrived. Sherry just felt

weird to see him there talking to Lone and Jakob.

They talked so much about how unimaginable

this year has been. They also talked about how

independent Sherry has become comparing to

one year before. She could decide her own

schedule and stuff now. She has also got the

ability to speak another new language, to take

care of herself in a foreign country. She learned

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to see things in a different way, and adjust to

another kind of family and culture style. It was

wonderful they could enjoy their lives together

and discover the growth of Sherry.

Goodbye at the airport

However, she was not happy about having

her dad there. She knew this was selfish, but she

did not want to leave. She was forced to come

there, and now she is forced to go back again.

How torturing and struggling!

It was hard for her to say goodbye. She has

had so many wonderful memories there. Lone

was the person who took care of her the most

during this year. Signe and she have shared all

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their daily details together. And Jakob could not

be as humorous as usual when they entered the

airport. She felt like vomiting again, it was like

saying good bye to her second home.

She watched Denmark becoming smaller and

smaller while the plane flew higher and higher.

She thought about her whole year, a year which

she remembered carefully. It was just like a year

ago which all the unanswerable questions floated

out. But this time she knew, after crying, there

would always be something for her to learn,

something happy and unforgettable just like what

she has discovered in this special

country—Denmark.

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Have a nice dream with Hans Christians Andersen

Sherry’s exchanging student life…

An Amazing Year!

Sherry was sixteen, a young and happy

girl who loves traveling very much. Therefore,

on 15 February, 2004, her parents secretly

36

37

assigned a program for her—a chance to be an

exchange student for a whole year. She only

knew the program would offer her a chance to

visit Europe…